Deadline has word that actress Jane Krakowski (30 Rock, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) has signed on to co-star in Apple’s half-hour comedy series Dickinson, based on the life of 1800s poet Emily Dickinson, played by Hailee Steinfeld (Bumblebee, Pitch Perfect 2). Krakowski will play Mrs. Dickinson, Emily’s mother.
Dickinson is set during Emily Dickinson’s era with a modern sensibility and tone. It takes viewers into the world of Emily, audaciously exploring the constraints of society, gender, and family from the perspective of a budding writer who doesn’t fit into her own time through her imaginative point of view. Dickinson, written by Alena Smith (The Affair, The Newsroom), is Emily’s coming-of-age story — one woman’s fight to get her voice heard.
David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express, Vice Principals) is set to direct and will also executive produce alongside Smith, Michael Sugar (Spotlight) and Ashley Zalta (Maniac) for Sugar23 Productions, as well as Alex Goldstone for Anonymous Content, and Darlene Hunt (The Big C). The series hails from Paul Lee’s independent studio, wiip.
Dickinson will be joining Apple’s other upcoming series including three from Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine, a morning-show drama starring Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston, Are You Sleeping starring Octavia Spencer, and a comedy toplined by Kristen Wiig. Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories, a Ronald D. Moore space drama, a Damien Chazelle series, world-building drama See from Steven Knight and Francis Lawrence, and an M. Night Shyamalan psychological thriller are all also on Apple’s slate.
Krakowski most recently co-starred in the Netflix series The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, which is coming to an end after four seasons. She can be seen next in the upcoming animated film Henchmen with Nathan Fillion, and is currently working on The Willoughbys alongside Terry Crews and Maya Rudolph.
(Photo credit: Getty Images)
